Learning Curve
by LttleDvl
Summary: The team gets a 'not so friendly' reception during an offworld mission and McKay is forced to help the natives understand Ancient technology while he is being held captive in a most unusual way.


Sheppard awoke to find himself lying on the floor in some type of cell with dull grey walls. He sat up slowly and took a look around.

"What the hell happened?" he asked, as Ronan helped him to his feet.

"We were ambushed." Ronon replied.

Sheppard looked around the room at his teammates. "Everyone all right?"

"We are fine." Teyla responded.

As Sheppard fully got to his feet, he realized that McKay was not with them.

"Where's McKay?" Sheppard glanced between Teyla and Ronon.

Ronan shrugged. "Don't know. He wasn't here when we woke up."

"Any sign of who captured us? Brought us here? Any ides why?" Sheppard asked them.

Teyla shook her head slightly. "No, nothing as of yet."

Just then the cell door opened; standing in the doorway was an attractive young woman. Not overly tall, she wore a simple white dress that somehow seemed elegant. She had shoulder length light brown hair with reddish hues and eyes of a pale blue color. She seemed able to sum up all three of the team members in a single, swift glance. "I am glad to see that you all are finally awake. If you'd please come with me, I believe I can explain what is going on." she spoke.

Sheppard cocked his eyebrow at Ronan who shrugged. They followed her out.

The young woman led them through a series of hallways, which were the same dull grey color as the room they were first in, acting as their guide. As they walked, she told them about her people. Sheppard noted that their tour was not without guards.

"I am sorry for the manner in which you were brought here, but I assure you it was necessary." she explained to them.

"Necessary in exactly what way?" Sheppard asked.

"We are a people that are in hiding," she paused slightly "from the wraith."

Sheppard nodded. "Yah, we've heard of them. So all of your people are hiding from the wraith?"

"Yes, that is correct. We keep the location of our habitats strictly confidential." she replied.

"So I assume that's why you knocked us out before you brought us here?" Sheppard asked her.

"Yes." she responded.

"Ah, I see. Only," Sheppard raised a pointed finger in the air, thinking "the one thing I don't get; you've brought us here for some as yet unexplained reason. You're telling us all about your people while giving us the guided and guarded tour. But you haven't said who you are, why we're here and what you've done with our friend."

The young woman stopped in the passageway and turned to look Sheppard full in the eye. "Colonel Sheppard; I assure you, Dr. McKay is completely unharmed."

Sheppard glanced questioningly at both Teyla and Ronon before responding. They didn't seem willing to take this woman's statement at face value any more than he was. "Really? And I'm just supposed to take your word for that? And by the way, how do you know our names? We were never actually introduced."

"We found your identifications, of course." she commented.

"Well, I hate to say it, but I don't really buy that." Sheppard replied.

"You wear identifying tags, do you not, Colonel?" she asked.

"Yah, I do. But Ronon and Teyla sure don't. Neither does McKay as I recall. And you never answered my question. Where is he?" Sheppard took a step forward as if to advance on her and the guards moved forward to intercept him. She raised a hand towards the guards, stalling them.

"I will take you to him. Please, this way." She said as she continued to guide them down the hall.

Sheppard, Teyla and Ronon were led down another series of short passageways. After a slight distance, they turned down another, yet much longer, corridor. As they were walking and looking around, they passed several rooms in which they saw glimpses of control consoles inside. Of what they could see, they noticed that the consoles were not unlike the ones on Atlantis. All of the rooms were very dark and only a few of the consoles had light emitting from them. It appeared that most of them were not working.

After taking a few more glances into the rooms they passed, Sheppard spoke up. "Say, what exactly is this place anyway?"

"We found this facility some years ago, in an attempt to flee from a wraith culling. Some of our people discovered this facility by accident. We have used it as a refuge ever since." she replied.

"So how much do your people know about this place?" Sheppard was curious to find out exactly how much these people knew about ancient technology.

"Not as much as we'd like, I'm afraid. That is why we brought you here. You came through the stargate and we found that some of your equipment seems to have been made by the same people that made this place." she responded.

Sheppard didn't seem particularly amused by this piece of news. "So you searched us and took our equipment too, huh?"

"We couldn't exactly have you roaming around armed now could we?" She turned and led them through a doorway that opened into a cavernous room that was populated everywhere by computer equipment. Apparently, this was the one room that seemed to be fully functional. From this vantage point, Sheppard, Teyla and Ronon were able to see that the consoles were definitely ancient in design. People stood over and worked at all of the consoles and stations. A few of them looked up curiously at their entrance. They were all dressed in clothing similar to that of their guide.

Sheppard heard Teyla's swift intake of breath. He glanced quickly in her direction.

"Colonel?" She said; making it more of a statement rather than a question. He noted that she was looking intently at something just off to their left.

Sheppard turned slowly towards the area in which Teyla's eyes were still transfixed upon to see Rodney lying on some kind of table with all manner of wires and diodes attached to him. He appeared to be completely unconscious.

"Rodney?" Sheppard started to make a move towards him, but was quickly blocked by the guards.

Their guide stepped between them and Sheppard. "Colonel, I assure you, Dr. McKay is in no way being harmed. It is just easier and more comfortable this way."

Sheppard didn't appear convinced. "Comfortable? What in the hell are you doing to him any damn way?" Sheppard backed a step or two away from her, which the guards took as a sign to relax their stance; giving Sheppard and the team's guide a bit more space.

"We determined that Dr. McKay possesses vast knowledge of how this technology works. Something we are severely lacking in. We are merely..." she paused briefly before continuing "learning from him." she finished.

"What, you couldn't just talk to the guy?" Ronon crossed his arms across his chest, glaring at the small woman.

"I am afraid that we do not have much time. Under ideal conditions, we would have done exactly that. But we need to learn as much as possible in the shortest amount of time that is necessary." she told them.

Sheppard looked curious. "Why? What is it that's so urgent?"

"We have detected a large number of wraith ships coming this way. In greater numbers than have been in recorded history. If we are unable to restore this place, we all will likely die." she replied solemnly.

"How soon?" Teyla inquired.

The woman shook her head slightly "A matter of days only."

"We can help you know." Sheppard spoke up. "We do know a thing or two about the wraith. And how to fight them."

"You are already helping us, Colonel. We believe that we will have all the knowledge we will need to bring this facility up to full power with the information we are able to gain from Dr. McKay." she said.

"Really? Well I don't." Sheppard replied. "For starters, if you want people to help you, you don't ambush 'em, knock 'em out cold, and then hook one of them up to some kind of machine, against their wills."

"I am sorry about that Colonel. But I assure you it was necessary. The extraction process is most disconcerting for those who are awake during the procedure. It is more easily and effectively done while the subject in question is unconscious." she explained.

Teyla arched an eyebrow quizzically at the woman "Extraction?"

"That doesn't sound very pleasant." Ronan added.

"No, it doesn't. So exactly how long does this 'extraction' process take?" Sheppard asked her.

"Not long at all. It will be complete in a matter of a few hours." she said.

"And McKay?" Ronan asked.

"He will be perfectly fine. He won't even experience a headache." she replied.

------------------------

Rodney awoke to find himself in a darkened room; he sat up and looked around himself. The only light seemed to be coming from a few consoles. There didn't appear to be anyone else around.

"Colonel Sheppard? Where is everyone?" he asked. "Sheppard this is McKay come in please." He keyed his headset, hearing only static. "Teyla? Ronon? Come in please."

He sat up on the edge of a table, glancing around; trying to make out where he was and how he got there. "Hello? Is anyone here? Anyone at all? Huh, how odd." He got up and walked over to the first console. Looking it over quickly, McKay determined that it was definitely Ancient. "Well, let's see what we have here, shall we?"

He began to press the controls, but nothing seemed to be responding. "Oh c'mon. You have plenty of power, why aren't you working? Unless…." he snapped his fingers in rapid succession, as he walked over to a panel in the wall and removed the cover. "Well, the conduits here seem to be all right. Certainly getting enough power flow. Hmm, maybe there's a short somewhere." He glanced around quickly.

"Oh great, just great. How am I supposed to get anything accomplished without my interface?" he sighed. "I suppose I'll just have to walk around this place completely on my own and find everyone else." he said, throwing his hands up in the air. "The great Dr. McKay to the rescue. Again. How typical." Rodney headed towards the door; where he looked in both directions down either end of the hall. "And of course, you couldn't even provide me with a map, could you? Hmph." He turned off to the left.

------------------------

Sheppard, Ronon and Teyla were led into a small room by their guide. "Please make yourselves at home while you wait. Can I offer you any refreshments?"

"Nah, I think we're good." Sheppard responded.

She bowed slightly to them and then left, closing the door behind her. Sheppard turned to the others.

"Well that could've been worse. Course, I'm not really sure how." Sheppard surmised.

"What do you propose we do?" Teyla asked.

Sheppard shook his head. "Right now, I'm not sure there is much we can do. We don't know anything about that machine they've got Rodney hooked up to and I don't think he'd appreciate it very much if we damaged some brain cells while trying to unhook him."

"So?" Ronon looked at Sheppard questioningly.

"So. We wait." he gestured haltingly with his hand. "For now. If what she says is true, McKay will come out of it in a couple of hours none the worse for wear."

Ronan arched his eyebrows at him. "Do you trust these people?"

Sheppard shook his head. "No. But at the moment I don't see that we have a lot of options. So let's just sit tight for now and go from there."

"And if Dr. McKay does not recover in a few hours?" Teyla asked.

"Then we'll have just to bust him out. One way or another." Sheppard told them.

------------------------

After what seemed like hours of searching, Rodney finally found what appeared to be a control room.

"Yes! Now we're getting somewhere." he glanced around the room quickly. "Alright. Main control panel." He walked over to a console. "Should be this one right here."

"Yes! Hey, wait a second." he waggled his finger in the air for a second. "This is kind of set up like Atlantis. No, no, no, no. Wait. It's not." He continued to talk to himself, all the while pointing and waving his fingers absently.

"In fact, it's more like that weapons station we found. Huh. I wonder if it's possible that the ancients built more than one of those? Well, I guess we'll just have to find out." He turned back to the console and began inputting a series of commands.

"Agh, now what?" McKay threw his hands up in complete frustration. "You've got plenty of power, there's no reason I can see that you aren't working. No apparent existing command codes. No excess drain of power," he paused briefly. "wait a second."

He leaned over to peer closer at the controls. "Something is drawing power. A hell of a lot of it. Okay, where's it all going?" He continued to scan the console, looking for answers.

"The room I just came from?" he stated incredulously. "That's impossible! There's absolutely nothing in there." He stopped himself. "Wait, wait; now that I think about it, one of them did seem to be processing something. Hmm."

He turned away from the console, headed back towards the corridor. "Well, here I go again. Off to neverland."

------------------------

"Should they have not been finished by now? It has been several hours." Teyla asked.

"Yah. I'm thinking the same thing. I think it's time we had a chat with our gracious 'host'." Sheppard said.

At that moment, the same woman who had guided them around earlier strode in. "I believe you are ready to depart now?"

Sheppard nodded slightly at her. "Yes, I think so. We'd like our equipment and weapons back too, if you don't mind."

"Of course. But you do realize that we can not return your weapons to you until you are ready to traverse the gate?" she replied.

"Yah. Sure. Whatever you say. Can we go and see McKay now?" He gestured in her direction. "It's not that we don't trust you, but we um, kind of don't trust you. We'd like to make sure that he's ok before we meet up and head out."

"Of course you would. I..." she paused for a moment, gazing at the Colonel. "I have to advise you however, that there appears to have been a minor…complication."

Ronon glared at her, narrowing his gaze. "What kind of complication?"

"We did not realize that although you appear like us, your physiology is quite different from ours." she replied.

Sheppard looked highly suspicious. "Exactly what are we talking about here?"

"We have been unable to revive Dr. McKay, despite our best efforts. He appears to be in some sort of comatose state." she stated.

Sheppard sucked in a breath, in an effort to keep himself calm. "Can we see him anyway?"

"Of course. Right this way." She gestured to indicate that they should follow her back through the passageways towards the room that they last saw McKay in.

As they walked, Ronon spoke quietly in order to not to be overheard by their escort. "So what do you think? What happened?"

Sheppard shook his head briefly. "I don't know. Other than the fact that there is obvious ancient technology here, I don't have any idea what this place is supposed to be, so no idea on what they were using on him."

"What do you suggest we do?" Teyla questioned.

"I'm not sure. Collect Rodney and take him back to Atlantis. Maybe Beckett can figure something out."

------------------------

Dr. Beckett heaved a great sigh before speaking. "I have no idea. There's no sign of any kind of trauma or injury anywhere. All his vitals are completely normal; there's no sign of infection, bacteria or anything. All his organ systems are functioning just as they should be. Realistically, there's no reason why he should be in this state at all."

Dr. Beckett, Sheppard, Ronon, Teyla and Dr. Weir were all gathered together in her office. Dr. Weir sat in the chair behind her desk. She leaned towards the others, looking at them intently.

"Well, what are our options?" she asked.

Beckett shook his head, bewildered. "Currently, not much I'm afraid. If I had some indication as to what was causing this, I'd have at least something to work from. But as it stands right now, I have nothing."

"I think we should go back." Sheppard spoke up.

"Back? Why?" Dr. Weir asked.

"Well, for starters, whatever in the hell they did during their 'extraction' had to cause this. If we could get a closer look at whatever technology they were using, it might give us an idea of what went wrong." Sheppard concluded.

"That's possible." Weir nodded in agreement. "But I'm not eager to send anyone else into a situation that's already put one member of my team in a coma."

Sheppard leaned towards her. "I understand that, but the way I see it, I don't think we have any other choice. Beckett's clearly at his wits' end." he looked pointedly at Carson "A state I hope to never see you in again, by the way." he turned back towards Weir "And the only source we know of that might have any insight into this is back there on that planet."

Weir sighed. "I know. I'm just not comfortable in letting you go back there."

Sheppard started to protest. "Eliza…"

Dr. Weir cut him off. "But that doesn't mean I'm not going to. I happen to agree. The only thing we know for certain is that whatever caused this happened there. And I for one would like to know how. And, more importantly; how we can fix it."

Sheppard nodded his head once. "Right. We'll be ready in an hour."

Beckett stood up. "I'm coming with you. No offense, Colonel, but you and the rest have no medical expertise in which to draw from. I just might see something that you'll overlook."

"I kind of figured you would." Colonel Sheppard agreed. "Ok. Let's get packing."

------------------------

Rodney continued to push at the controls on the various consoles in the room. Still, nothing seemed to be working.

"Come on already! Haven't we been doing this for hours now?" Rodney spoke as he suddenly heard a crackling over his radio.

"Dr. McKay? Are you there?" a voice asked.

"Yes! Yes, I'm here." McKay responded with some bit of relief. "Where are you? Who are you?"

"Calm down, Dr. McKay; everything is perfectly all right. You're safe." The voice assured him.

"Well thanks for small miracles then. What is going on here? I've been stuck here for hours, none of these consoles work; I haven't encountered another single person…."

The voice on the other end of the line cut off McKay's tirade. "Yes, I know. I will explain everything in due time, but you need to calm down."

McKay drew in a breath. "Ok. I'm calm. Now. Where do you want to start?"

"First; let me explain that it is pointless to try to man the consoles. They will not respond to any of your commands."

"Yes, thank you. Figured that out already." McKay replied sarcastically. "I just don't know why."

"That is because they are not actually there." the voice responded

McKay cocked his head slightly; puzzled. "Excuse me?"

The voice continued on; "What you are seeing is a visual representation of our facility only. There is no way you can directly interact with it."

"Really? Then where am I? What's happened to me?" McKay began to sound slightly panicked.

"There is no need to become upset. You are perfectly safe." The voice said in a soothing manner.

"Oh yes! Of course! I'm trapped in some virtual hallucination with no way of getting out and absolutely no idea of what may be happening to me in the real world! The real world…" he paused as he thought of something. "My body. Where is my body?"

"It too is safe." the voice replied.

"And what in the hell is that supposed to mean, huh? And how am I supposed to trust you? Hmm? All I know about you is that you're some kind of disembodied voice. How do I even know that you're not a part of this 'virtual reality?" McKay spoke in alarm.

"I am not. I am speaking to you from outside of the program." the voice responded

That got McKay's attention. "Program?" he asked. "What kind of program?"

"A learning program. Of sorts." the voice replied.

"Learning?" McKay asked, quizzically. "What else is there that I could possibly need to learn?"

"Not you, Dr. McKay. Us. We need to learn from you. And this was the most efficient method."

"This is efficient? For who? Wait." he paused for a second as he jabbed a finger in the air. "You said you need to learn from me."

"That is correct." The voice confirmed.

"So, you're saying you've got me trapped in some kind of program? And that you expect me to teach you something?" McKay asked.

"Yes, that is correct."

McKay crossed his arms over his chest in a huff. "Well, I'm sorry to ruin your day Hal, but it's not going to happen."

"You have no other options Dr. McKay." the voice replied.

"Oh really? I'm sure that my friends will be back to save me. They value me, you know. Well, at least they value my intelligence that is." McKay replied.

"Your friends have already departed." the voice informed him.

McKay dropped his arms, stunned. "What?!" he practically shouted "How can that be? Look, how did we even get 'here' in the first place?"

"You came through our stargate. We became aware of your presence and went to investigate. We had to incapacitate you for our own safety. We discovered upon searching you that you had equipment similar to what we have found in our facility here and your computer device indicated to us that you in particular had a vast knowledge of how this technology works."

"Well, I can't argue with that, I suppose. But why knock us out and drag us here? And why jack me into some kind of program?" McKay asked.

"We need your knowledge in our fight against the wraith. There is so much here that we do not understand. But we know that those who were here before us fought against the wraith. We need to know what they did to defeat them." the voice told him.

"Sorry to disappoint, but they didn't. They never defeated the wraith. They were too outnumbered. Most were killed. Some fled to other planets and went into hiding. They're not around anymore. Just some of their technology."

"Yes. Technology that you have extensive knowledge of. You can provide us with what we need to defeat the wraith." the voice continued.

McKay threw his hands up in the air, exasperated. "Look! I can't do that! Yes, I do know a lot about ancient technology. In fact, I would go so far as to state that I'm the foremost expert in ancient tech in the Pegasus galaxy. But that doesn't mean that I know how to defeat the wraith."

"Of course not. But you can help us. You can even provide us with strategies that would prove useful against the wraith. Your people have fought them before, correct?" the voice asked.

"Yes, but that doesn't mean…" McKay paused for a moment. "How did you know that?"

"Know what Dr. McKay?" the voice asked.

"That we fought against the wraith before. I know for a fact that I don't keep my list of 'successful wraith fighting techniques' in my laptop." he replied.

"Colonel Sheppard told us." came the reply.

McKay perked up a bit. "Sheppard? He's here?"

"No. He and the others departed a few hours ago." the voice responded.

McKay seemed dumbstruck. "And they…..just…..left me here?"

"Not precisely. They are not aware that they left any part of you behind." the voice told him.

McKay immediately became suspicious. "Any part of me? What does that mean? Look, I'm getting really tired of all this. Tell me now what the hell is going on and how I can get out of here!" his voice increased in pitch as he spoke.

"That is impossible Dr. McKay. Your friends took your body back with them."

McKay shook his head, not believing what he just heard. He spoke very quietly; almost talking to himself. "What? Why would they do that?"

He spoke to the voice once again. "Um, look I don't know of any other way to say this, but there is no way I am helping you at all until you get my friends back here with my body and put me back in it!"

"You have no choice Dr. McKay." the voice replied.

"Really? And why exactly is that, hmm?" He crossed his arms over his chest in a defiant manner.

"Because in a matter of a few hours you will be destroyed along with the rest of us when the wraith arrive."

McKay dropped his defiant pose and grew concerned. "Wraith? How many?"

"Several ships at least. We estimate that they will reach us in approximately 4 hours." the voice responded

"4 hours? Boy, you certainly don't give someone a whole lot of time to work with, do you? Okay. Let's see." McKay began to pace back and forth, thinking quickly. "Suppose I do decide to help you; that's not saying that I've agreed to any such thing yet, mind you; can you get me back into my body after this is all over?"

"Yes." the voice replied.

McKay drew in a deep breath. "Good. Then let's get started shall we?"

------------------------

A cloaked jumper arrived at the planet where the facility was located; carrying Sheppard and his team as well as a second with Major Lorne in command.

Sheppard turned to Lorne. "Stay cloaked, but in the vicinity. If we need backup, we'll call you."

"Yes, sir." Lorne replied.

Sheppard, Teyla, Ronon and Beckett exited the jumper. They heard the engines whine as the jumper lifted off from the ground. Sheppard signaled the others to move in towards the facility entrance. They closed in on it; visually checking the area as they went, and then proceeded to move inside.

------------------------

McKay seemed frustrated. "This is just not working! There are some obvious scientific basics that you just don't seem to know about! What's the best way for you to let me know what scientific knowledge you do possess?"

At this, a holographic image appeared that looked reminiscent of a HUD on a jumper. McKay stood up, looking at it curiously.

"What's this?" he asked.

"A holographic interface. It has access to all of our scientific knowledge and what we have learned from this facility thus far." the voice told him.

"Okay, so…" he thought for a moment. "Show me your most advanced scientific theories."

The screen flickered briefly for a moment and then began to fill with data. McKay skimmed over what it displayed.

"Is this it?" McKay asked "You don't even have quantum physics."

"We are not familiar with that methodology, Dr. McKay." the voice responded.

"Yah, apparently not. Okay. This would be so much easier if I could write it all out." he mused. Something that resembled a writing utensil of sorts appeared suddenly; hovering in the air directly in front of the screen. McKay reached out and grasped the 'pen'.

"Okay then." He began to write furiously on the screen. "The basic principle of quantum physics is…"

------------------------

Sheppard was really surprised that they had made it this far into the facility without encountering anyone.

"Are you sure this place isn't deserted?" Beckett spoke up

"Yes. Last time we were here it was crawling with people." Sheppard answered.

Teyla gave Sheppard a crooked glance, arching an eyebrow at him.

Sheppard rolled his eyes in response. "Ok, so not exactly crawling. But there were definitely a large number of people around. Lets' keep moving."

------------------------

McKay was in the midst of speaking; "….so if you apply the theory of relativity in relation to the space-time continuum it can be theorized that…."

McKay heard a sudden noise come over the communication system. "What was that?" Silence echoed back at him.

He straightened up from his position where he'd been writing on the screen. "Hello? Are you still there? Hello?"

------------------------

Sheppard spoke to the group of people that was gathered around. "Everyone just hold it right there and I promise you no one will get hurt." Sheppard and the others had located the room where they last saw Rodney hooked up to a bunch of machines and found a large number of people frantically working away at the controls. Many consoles were being manned by more than two people.

"Would you mind telling me exactly what is going on here?" Sheppard asked as he recognized their 'guide' from the first time that they were here.

"I don't believe that is any of your business." she replied shortly. "Nor do you have any right to be here."

"You may be right about that first part, but not about the second. I want to know exactly what you did to Dr. McKay. And how we can fix it." he replied angrily.

"As I told you before Colonel, I am afraid that is impossible. Your physiology just will not allow us to…"

"Hello?" A voice cut in from nowhere. A voice that Sheppard and the others immediately recognized.

Sheppard seemed almost stunned. "McKay? Is that you?"

"Colonel! You're here. They told me that you'd left." McKay paused briefly "And that you had left without me." he spoke, sounding vaguely despondent.

"Well, we did kind of leave for a bit there." Sheppard replied, cringing slightly in anticipation of Rodney's response.

"What?!" McKay uttered in disbelief

"Don't worry Rodney, we're back now and we're going to fix everything. Just as soon as our friend here tells us what she did to you in the first place." Sheppard glared at the woman before turning his attention back to McKay. "Where exactly are you anyway?"

"Stuck inside their computer no less. They seemed to think it was a swell idea to download the great Dr. McKay into some kind of program in an attempt to learn from me."

Sheppard cocked an eyebrow towards their former guide. "You wanted to learn from him?"

"Yes. We do not posses the knowledge that is required to make this facility completely operational. After you first arrived here, we were able to determine that Dr. McKay has the most extensive knowledge of this technology amongst of all of you. So naturally, we chose him."

"Naturally." Sheppard responded sarcastically. "Well then. How do we get him back into where he's supposed to be?"

"I'm afraid that is not possible at this time." she replied.

McKay cut in, speaking urgently. "Don't believe her, Colonel. She's been telling me over and over how easy it would be to do it. Just that it will take a couple of hours."

"Yes. That is why I said that it is not possible at this time. You know as well as I do about the approaching wraith ships, Dr. McKay." she spoke.

Beckett looked surprised. "Wraith?"

"Carson? Is that you?" McKay let out a huge sigh, sounding relived. "You have no idea how glad I am right at this moment to have a medical doctor around. How's my body? You did bring it back with you of course?"

"McKay?!" Sheppard cut him off in order to bring him back to the topic at hand. "Wraith ships?"

"Um, yes. I've managed to access the long-range sensors and I've been able to determine that…oh no…" there was a brief pause. "There are 7 hive ships on their way here."

"7?" Teyla questioned; sounding perplexed "Why so many? Certainly you do not have a population here that would be large enough to support the culling needed for that many ships?"

"No, we do not. In fact, the few of us you see here now are all that are left of our people." the woman replied.

"Then why are they coming here? What's so important that they would feel the need to send that many hive ships?" Sheppard asked.

"I think I can answer that, Colonel." McKay piped up. "I've just been going over some schematics and this place is massively large. It was definitely designed for some purpose."

"And that purpose would be…what?" Sheppard asked.

"I don't know for certain yet." McKay replied "Take a look around you, Colonel. Does it look familiar at all? Like maybe you've seen something similar before?" Sheppard glanced around shaking his head a bit as he did so and just as he started to say no; he suddenly saw himself standing with Rodney in the control center of the experimental weapon facilities that the ancients had designed.

"Well, now that you mention it, yah, it does look a bit familiar. Kind of like that weapons platform we found a while back." Sheppard began to relax his stance, lowering his weapon as the rest of his team followed his example.

Sheppard turned towards the woman who had previously guided them around. She seemed to be the designated 'leader' for these people. "Listen, how about we work this out? We may be able to help you, but you have to help McKay."

"We can do that." she readily agreed, bowing her head slightly.

"Good. So can we start working on getting Dr. McKay back to normal?" Sheppard asked.

"I am afraid that with our current situation there is not enough time." she replied.

Ronon took a step forward. "We had a deal."

"You misunderstand me." the woman began.

"Yes, yes, we know. We simply don't have that kind of time." McKay butted in.

"What exactly do you mean by that?" Sheppard asked.

"Those wraith ships we were just talking about? Well; they'll be here in a little over an hour." McKay stated.

Sheppard rolled his eyes, exasperated. "Oh. Just great. So where do we start?" He turned in the direction of the woman. "We never did get your name, by the way."

"**Alyssia**." she replied.

"So how much exactly do you know about this facility?" Sheppard asked her.

"Not very much at all. We have only able to explore only a small portion of it." she replied.

"I think I can help with that" McKay spoke up. Suddenly, lights started to turn on in the far end of the room. They revealed the fact that the room was quite larger than anyone had previously believed. And when it was fully lit, what it contained was something even more astounding.

"Is that what I think it is?" Sheppard asked, stunned.

"Yes, Colonel. From what I can tell, it certainty is." McKay replied.

"What exactly is it?" Ronon asked.

"A satellite." Sheppard said "An ancient weapons satellite. Does it even work?"

"Not sure, I'm trying to determine that now." McKay replied.

"What is it doing here underground? Were the ancients attempting to hide it from something?" Beckett asked.

"No, I don't believe so." McKay responded "In fact; if these indications are correct, this entire facility has several similar large bays." he paused briefly "I don't think the ancients hid their satellites here, I think they made them here."

"A manufacturing facility for the satellites?" Teyla wondered.

Sheppard shrugged briefly. "Guess so; they would've had to build them somewhere I suppose." He turned towards **Alyssia.** "Do you know of these other rooms and where they're located?"

"Yes of course. They are scattered throughout here. In fact, the main passageway seems to be the corridor that provides access to all of them." she replied.

"Did you see any others," Sheppard pointed significantly at the satellite "with another one of those in them?"

"No Colonel. Until now we were not even aware that this room extended to this capacity." **Alyssia** replied.

"Hold on a second." McKay cut in "I've brought the internal sensors online and I've been able to determine that there are ten identical bays. Although only three of them are currently occupied, including this one."

"So can we get them to work?" Sheppard asked.

"I don't know how we could, but I can tell you that if we are; we're going to need a lot more help than what we currently have here." McKay responded "And we need people that happen to have more than a passing clue that flint makes sparks." he added sarcastically.

Sheppard rolled his eyes. "McKay…" he growled.

"Alright, I get the hint." McKay replied "Seriously though, if we're really going to do this, we need a hell of a lot more people. Get Zelenka; tell him to put to together some teams and to grab all the equipment that he can."

"And in the meantime?" Sheppard asked.

"Well, since I can't exactly go anywhere, I thought I'd dig around in the database and see if I can figure out exactly what kind of condition these things are in." McKay replied.

Sheppard nodded his agreement. "Sounds like a plan. Ronon and Teyla, you stay here and help the others explore around and see if you can find where the other two satellites are. Beckett?" He turned toward Carson. "Why don't you come back with me?"

"Alright Colonel." Beckett replied.

"Sheppard!" McKay yelled out.

Sheppard gave an annoyed sigh. "What now, Rodney?"

"Make sure you bring back my body this time." McKay said.

"What for? It's not like it's exactly going to do you any good at the moment." Sheppard replied.

"That may be true now, but there is a possibility that this might not work at all. And worse case scenario, you can always evacuate everyone through the stargate." McKay stated.

"But if we do that, then the wraith will likely destroy this place and everything in it." Beckett spoke up.

"Yes, I know." McKay replied quietly.

Sheppard seemed perplexed. "So why would you want your body here then?"

"Because there's not enough time to get me back in my body right now, and if it gets to a point of imminent death, then this facility and everything in it will be obliterated! Including me." McKay sounded flustered. "And if I have to go, I'd rather I have all my parts go with me."

"Okay. I get the idea. I can't say that Elizabeth is going to like this though." Sheppard motioned to Beckett and they both left the room, headed back out of the facility.

Sheppard keyed his radio as he walked down the corridor. "Lorne, come in. I need you to pick me and Dr. Beckett up. I'll explain everything on the way."

------------------------

After a short while, Sheppard and Beckett returned with three teams of scientists in tow.

"Colonel. Welcome back." Teyla greeted them all.

"What did you find out while we were gone?" Sheppard asked.

"Quite a bit actually." McKay piped up. "I found a diagnostic program for the satellites. They all need to have extensive work done to them; it seems that the ancients didn't get around to finishing these ones. Zelenka, are you there?"

"Yes, Rodney?" Zelenka responded.

"Break the teams up however you see fit, but I want you to take the most southern one. It's going to require the most amount of work. How many people did you bring with you?" McKay asked.

"Three full teams." Zelenka replied.

"That many, hey? Well, lets get to work then." McKay stated.

------------------------

The teams all worked furiously to make the satellites fully functional before the arrival of the wraith ships. McKay directed them based upon the information he had been able to access from the computer. It took them almost a full hour to bring them to working order. Or at least; what everyone hoped was an operational status.

"Are we ready? Can we at least test them somehow?" Sheppard asked.

"No! We don't have any more time." McKay spoke urgently "The wraith have just dropped out of hyperspace and they're closing in fast! We need to launch now!"

"Alright! So how exactly do we go about doing that?" Sheppard asked.

"I can do that from here. I'm initiating the launch protocols now." At this, everyone heard a high-pitched whine that started to grow louder as they began to feel vibrations.

Sheppard shouted over the increasing noise. "McKay! When these things launch, what's to keep them from searing everything and everyone in here?"

"I'm on it!" McKay yelled back. "There is a set of doors that close and separate the control room from the launch bay itself." Everyone heard another noise join in with the first as they saw two halves of a massive door slowly sliding towards each other. They all watched and waited.

"Here we go! The satellites will launch in approximately 45 seconds." McKay spoke as he was looking over the controls; making sure that everything was going smoothly when something caught his eye. Alarmed, he saw that the launches were threatening to overload the power systems. Frantically, he searched for some way he could generate more power. He then thought back to the first time he had noticed that something was taking up a massive of amount of the facility's power. After thinking about it briefly, he realized exactly where that power was going to. Without a moment's hesitation, he shifted the power to the satellites so that the launch sequences could be completed.

There was nothing anyone in the control room could do but wait. They couldn't even hear each other over the noise. The shuddering of the facility continued to worsen; then suddenly the shaking stopped and the noise rapidly diminished. The lights flickered briefly and the room was thrust into darkness.

"McKay? What happened?" Sheppard asked as he pulled out a flashlight. "I take it that all the noise and shaking means that the satellites launched successfully?" He heard nothing but silence. "McKay?"

"Just a moment, Colonel." Zelenka spoke up "I believe we may have briefly overloaded the system. Let me see if I can bring the power back up." Across the room, flashlights were being lit. Sheppard saw Zelenka and some of the other scientists at the main console. After a moment more, the lights returned and the consoles came back to life.

"Well? What's the word?" Sheppard asked.

"I've just got the sensors back online and they are indicating that all the wraith ships have been destroyed. Colonel, it appears that one of the satellites hit one of the ships before it could fully deploy. Both it and the ship were destroyed. The remaining two satellites have been damaged." Zelenka replied.

"Can they be fixed?" Ronon asked.

Zelenka shook his head slightly. "That can't be determined from here; we'd have to go in for a closer look."

Sheppard nodded his head in agreement. "Right. McKay, are you ready to get out of there?" There was still no response from the scientist. "McKay? Rodney?"

Sheppard looked questioningly to Zelenka. "Radek? What's going on?"

"Just a moment." he replied, holding up a finger "It is likely that the brief power overload may have temporarily knocked out our capability to…" he paused briefly "Oh no."

"What?" Sheppard sounded alarmed "Why do I not like the sound of that?"

Zelenka looked up from the console at Colonel Sheppard. "It appears that the launching of all three satellites at once was too much of a drain on the system. It would have caused a massive overload; one that would have probably destroyed the entire facility. From what I can tell, the failsafes were about to come on and cut power to all three satellites, but at the last moment, power was drawn from elsewhere."

Colonel Sheppard was really not liking where this was going. "Such as?"

Zelenka drew in a large breath before continuing. "The large capacity memory storage. This facility's computer system has a very large database, which can store large amounts of complex data. But in order to do so, it has to use a large amount of power. When the power was transferred to the satellites, all the data in that memory was lost."

"How did that happen?" Beckett wondered.

"The power transfer occurred because the system was given a command override to take power from the memory storage." He paused again. "Where apparently Dr. McKay was."

"What are you saying?" Sheppard asked, growing concerned.

"I'm saying that Rodney deliberately shifted the power, probably fully aware of what he was doing." Zelenka sighed "I'm sorry, Colonel, but the computer indicates that the memory storage is now completely empty." he finished.

Sheppard and the others couldn't believe what they'd just heard.

"So...?" Beckett began haltingly "You mean he's gone? That we've completely lost him?"

Zelenka appeared saddened as he nodded his head. "I'm afraid it looks that way, yes." They all fell silent for a moment.

**Alyssia** approached Sheppard hesitantly. "Colonel, I am sorry about all of this. We never intended for something like this to happen."

"Yah, well. Too late about that now, isn't it?" Sheppard replied shortly as he walked away from her. He waved a signal at the teams and the Atlantians began to collect their gear and pack up.

Sheppard stopped collecting equipment for a moment and turned back towards **Alyssia**. "You know we'll back, right? I'm sure Dr. Weir will want us to return and look at those satellites and see what else we can learn about this place."

**Alyssia** nodded briefly. "Of course; you are most welcome any time." Sheppard turned away and continued to pick up pieces of random equipment.

"Wait a moment!" Zelenka burst out; looking intently at Sheppard. "Colonel! I think I found something."

"What?" Sheppard asked.

"It appears that there was a secondary protocol in place. It is designed that in the event of data loss from the memory, it shifts the contents into a compressed backup location." Zelenka replied.

"Compressed?" Ronon muttered.

"Yes, it makes the data compact in order to occupy a smaller space." Zelenka explained.

"So?" Sheppard asked curiously.

Zelenka looked pointedly at the Colonel. "It is now full. As if something is now taking up all of its resources. And it won't hold long."

"Do you believe that it is Dr. McKay?" Teyla asked.

"It's possible. But I have no way of knowing for certain, however." Zelenka replied.

"So we just need to 'download' him from the compressed memory." Sheppard said.

"No, I think that would be a bad idea." Zelenka shook his head. "When data gets compressed, it gets re-arranged slightly to make the maximum use of the available space. I think we need to transfer whatever is in there back into the main storage first in order to keep the data integrity."

"Alright then, get started on that right away." Sheppard turned to **Alyssia**. "And as soon as he's done with that, get Rodney…"

Zelenka cut in. "Colonel, we don't know that it's him for certain."

Sheppard waved a non-committal hand in Zelenka's direction. "Fine." He turned back towards **Alyssia**. "But if it is him; get him back in his body as soon as Zelenka is done."

"Of course." she replied.

------------------------

Rodney slowly opened his eyes to a bright piercing light.

"Rodney?" he heard Beckett call out. "Colonel, he's coming around."

Sheppard stepped up next to the table on which McKay was lying. "Hey buddy, how are you doing?""

McKay slowly lifted his arm to his head as began to sit up. He then slumped immediately back down on the table. "Oh geesh, I never realized how much effort it took to actually move. Ugh."

"How do you feel?" Beckett asked him.

"Why is everything so bright?" McKay asked, instead of answering Carson's question.

"I'm sure it's just temporary." Beckett responded "You've been 'seeing' in a virtual reality for a few hours now. You probably just need a bit of time to get re-adjusted."

"Yah, sure, whatever." Rodney grunted as he attempted to sit up again; Beckett moved quickly to lend him a hand.

**Alyssia** stepped forward. "Dr. McKay? I would like to apologize to you. We were mistaken in our actions."

"So you're just figuring this out now?" McKay quipped at her.

Sheppard intervened. "McKay…"

"Yes, yes, I know." McKay replied, waving absently at John. "Apology accepted, I suppose. You do know I'll be wanting to come back and do some more research on this place, yes?"

**Alyssia** nodded in response.

McKay looked up suddenly at all of them, snapping his fingers. "Oh. The satellites; I take it they launched successfully? Did they destroy all the wraith ships? How…"

Sheppard cut him off. "McKay, we can talk about all that later. Wouldn't you like to get back to Atlantis first? I'm sure that Beckett is anxious to do a full check-up on you."

"Oh, good; just the kind of thing I always look forward to." McKay griped as he got up off of the table, only slightly wobbly.

As they were beginning to depart, **Alyssia** spoke up and stopped them. "Dr. McKay? May I ask you one last question?"

McKay sighed and turned back to her. "Sure."

Alyssia looked at him, wonderingly. "What exactly does Hal mean?"

_**Fin**_


End file.
